Benjamin Franklin
By Illa Vij

ON a stormy night, Benjamin Franklin and his son conducted a daring experiment. Benjamin believed that lightning and electricity were identical. At that time little was known about electricity. Benjamin wanted to prove his belief. On a dark stormy night, he set out into the open with his son. They carried a leyden jar in which electric charges could be stored and also took a large kite of silk with a long wire attached to the top of a vertical stick. To the lower end of the twine, a silk ribbon was attached. A small key was fastened to the point where the twine and silk joined. The kite was flown very high up in the sky. Benjamin held the kite with the silk ribbon (silk is an insulator). Lightning struck and thunder rumbled as the kite went higher and higher. Off and on, Benjamin felt the key for an electric shock. A little later, he felt the tingling of an electric shock. He quickly touched the key at the bottom of the twine to the wire pierced into the leyden jar. It was pierced through a cork at the top of the leyden jar. Electricity from the charged air in the cloud flowed into the jar. Triumphant, the two went home. It is believed by scientists that if lightning had struck at that very moment then the electric charges would have jumped over the silk ribbon, and both father and son would have been charred.

Benjamin belonged to an ordinary family which had moved from America to England. The family settled in Boston and their fifteenth child was Benjamin (some sources say seventeenth). He was born in 1706. His father Josian Franklin made candles and soaps. Benjamin attended school for only two years. Josian knew that he could not afford university education for any of his children. So he apprenticed Benjamin to himself. But, Benjamin disliked working in the family shop. At the age of 12, Benjamin was apprentice to his brother James, a printer. During his free time, Benjamin educated himself by reading every book he could lay his hands on.

Around the age of 20, Benjamin went to Philadelphia. He found a job as a printer. A few years later, he had his own printing office and began publishing The Pennsylvania Gazette, a newspaper. He met Deborah Read, but married her much later. In the meantime, he met another woman who gave birth to their son William. Later when Benjamin got married to Deborah, he got his son William to their home. By the time Benjamin was in his early forties, he had earned success in his business. He wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac that brought him much fame. He became the public printer for Pennsylvania and initiated the first circulating library. Then he decided to retire from his active business life and began to devote time to his other interests which included science and study of languages. He was even interested in serving his country to the best of his ability.

In an autobiography, he wrote: "I am convinced that truth, sincerity and integrity in dealing between man and man were of the utmost importance". He drew up a list of moral values which he tried to live up to.

In 1751, Benjamin was elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. He made efforts to bring widely separated communities closer to each other. When the colonists opposed British taxation, he represented his people in London. He even gave up part of his fortune for the service of Congress. Then he moved to France to help the colonists there. At the age of 84, in 1790,Benjamin went into coma and died.

His achievements in life include the following:

(i) As a meteorologist, he traced the course of storms and explained water spouts and atmospheric pressure.

(ii) He was the first person to prove that a spark generated heat.

(iii) He organised Philadelphia’s first volunteer fire department.

(iv) He improved the postal system by using relays of post riders to deliver the mail faster.

(v) He established the first Dead Letter Office.

(vi) He invented bifocal glasses.

(vii) He invented an air circulator stove, that could be put together easily in any fire place.

(viii) He invented the harmonica, which later became a popular musical instrument.

(ix) He linked lightning to electricity with his kite experiment.

(x) He was one of the earliest persons to suggest that common cold was contagious.